Children's dark pictures—Societal critique in children's and young people's visual and verbal expressions about the UNCRC

Abstract

This article focuses on what the author has termed children's ‘dark pictures’ to explore how children’ and young people express themselves visually and verbally about difficult issues—such as violence, death and trafficking. Two pictures created by children and young people about the UNCRC, and the interviews accompanying these pictures, are analysed as examples of the commonness of ‘dark’ issues emerging even when they are given assignments emphasising ‘lighter’ issues. The potential of children's and young people's dark pictures to comment on and challenge, how difficult issues are communicated with children by adults and society is explored with the help of socio‐cultural and relational approaches to pictures. The article proposes the notion of dark visuality to highlight the critical potential of children's and young people's engagement with darkness through visual means and propose that their expressions can be understood as societal critique.